Meg Wolitzer

Whatever the case, we're going to have to recognize where we stand and make a choice about which direction to go.

The days of slow and gradual are gone.

Now change is barreling toward us.

Today's stories are about characters who find themselves in a place in which they need to make a choice, something that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

In one tale, an ancient being forces humans to contend with the world around them.

And in another, two people, each facing their own crises, might make things even stranger for one another.

Our first story comes from the speculative fiction legend Ursula K. Le Guin, best known as the author of the Earthsea series and the Hainish Cycle.

In her lifetime, she won every big sci-fi and fantasy award, as well as the National Book Award.

And there's even a documentary about her, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin.

This story, Direction of the Road, is read by Nikki M. James.

She recently appeared on Broadway as Ida B. Wells in the musical Suffs, won a Tony for her role in The Book of Mormon, and has appeared in series including Severance.

Just one final note before we hear the story, because I think it'll enhance your enjoyment of the piece, and it's not exactly clear right away.

Your narrator isn't human, so listen closely and you will soon figure out who or what is speaking.

And now, let's hear Direction of the Road by Ursula K. Le Guin, read by Nikki M. James.

That was Nicky M. James performing Direction of the Road by Ursula K. Le Guin.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.

It's fun, isn't it, to imagine a tree, so often a supporting player in our human stories, as something capable of agency and endowed with immense power?

Not to mention capable of beating a car in a foot race.

Le Guin is never one to shy away from the large and the looming.

She stares at all in the face, just as the driver of the car in her story does, looking and truly seeing, and along the way making us see, too.